After posting a photo of himself tearing ultra, actor Kumail Nanjiani became a popular topic on Twitter, a development in which some watchdogs spread unfounded steroid rumors on social media – and others hailed the discourse as racist.
“Happy New Year! I celebrated with a pandan tres leches cake from @marysmakeshop that made me think anew,” Nanjiani, 42, wrote under the Instagram photo he posted over the weekend, wearing his long-sleeved shirt-covered biceps. “I’m just eating Pandan tart cakes from here.”
The innocently captioned image inspired extensive commentary on social media about the comedian’s physical transformation, which he underwent for his role in Marvel’s upcoming “Eternals,” alongside Angelina Jolie and Kit Harington.
Since then, many haters have gone to Twitter to theorize whether the Oscar-nominated ‘The Big Sick’ took steroids, but fans of the comedian were quick to jump in and call such speculations racist and body shaming.
‘Body embarrassing Kumail Nanjiani for being hijacked? Is very strange, “said one defender. now-viral tweetand noted that different white actors “did the same super-soldier program and never made a mistake about it.”
Neither Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth nor Chis Pratt were accused of ‘driving’ when selected for various roles, another user commented, yet Nanjiani – who is a Pakistani-American – is uniquely faced.
“Notice how you only mock the colored men, but not your white favorites,” another viral tweet pointed out, who speculated those who speculated about Nanjian’s ability to become a natural buff, with those who mocked before death with actors Chadwick Boseman’s thin physical appearance.
Reps for Nanjiani did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the online debate.
However, the actor and screenwriter was previously transparent about his journey to bodybuilding.
“I never thought I would be one of those people who would post a thirsty shirtless, but I worked way too long, so here we are,” he drew a topless image of himself in December 2019.
‘I found out a year ago that I would be in Marvel’s’ Eternals’ and decided I wanted to change what I looked like. “He thanks the very human, non-chemical training team that helped him reach his muscles.
At the time, the photo also made him flake off.